Mutare mayor Brian James said his council is seeking to borrow $1,7 million to replace traffic and streets lights in the eastern border city.
James said the money would be used to replace old and malfunctioning street and traffic lights, which have not been attended to for a long time now.
“Mutare City Council has applied to the Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development for the borrowing powers for $1,7 million. We are in contact with the Development Bank of Zimbabwe over the issue and the bank is very keen to lend us that money to upgrade the lights,” said James.
“The traffic and street lights in the city are old and that is also old technology. It is our desire to utilise modern technology by using sustainable energy. We prefer solar energy because of the current load-shedding and also from an environmental point of view, we want to think green and improve our environment by using sustainable energy.”
The mayor said the lights had never been repaired since they were installed, putting lives of the public in danger.
Motorists who spoke to NewsDay welcomed the move and expressed optimism the project would receive funding soon.
“That will be good news to us because it’s dangerous to travel around the city where there are non-functioning traffic lights,” said a motorist, Godknows Shumba.
“We hope that loan will be granted soon so that proper precautions will be put in place to avoid unnecessary road accidents and traffic jams,” he added.
